Do I need a will?

bundly

I'm leaving my freehold house and all my savings to one person.

Do I really need to pay for a solicitor?

Bundly

Your_Hero

bundly wrote: »

I'm leaving my freehold house and all my savings to one person.

Do I really need to pay for a solicitor?

Bundly

Yes you do need a will, but no you don't need to pay a solicitor.

If you die intestate (no will), strict rules come into play about how your assets are distributed and to whom. So that does depends how much your total house and assets are worth and who that "one person" is.

Majority of the time, it's better to make a will. Nothing is clearer than where it's written down in black and white. For the sake of £100-150 (the cost of a single person's will if done professionally) or £10 from WHSmiths DIY will kit, would you really want to take the risk?

atush

if your total assets are over 325K, and you want to leave them to your partner, get married. So there wont be IHT to pay.

bundly

Thanks for the replies.

The total assets should I die tomorrow would be about £250k to £280k depending on the house value.

Thanks for the tip about getting married! The person I want to leave everything to is the same sex as myself. Would a civil partnership count? But I think you are saying that's only if my assets are £325k and over?

Bundly.

atush

yes, if you can legally marry (ie not brother/sister etc). But would only come into focus if the assets are over IHT.

You could keep the idea in reserve, until your assets are above the limit (you can add a bit for the costs of selling the house).

bundly

Thanks. So a £10 will kit will cover it then. Thanks!

jamesd

Since you are not married or in a civil partnership what would happen today is the same thing as if you were living with any unrelated stranger: they would get nothing from your estate. If you are the only owner of the home they would probably be evicted to facilitate its sale by whoever inherits it.

Under the rules of intestacy (dying without a will) your money would first go to your children, if any, next choice parents then siblings and a range of other blood relatives. Those who are not blood relatives or legally adopted would get nothing. This tool will tell you who would get yours.

You can use will writers or DIY will forms but it's a good deal better to use a solicitor. Free or discounted will services from solicitors are common and even without them in a simple case like yours the cost is not going to be horribly large.

If you don't wish to marry or form a legal civil partnership a solicitor would be able to suggest approaches that protect them while you are in a relationship with them but which does something else if the relationship has ended and the will not updated.

Nick_C

A Civil Partnership, or same sex marriage, would protect the person you are leaving your assets to. Incidentally, you don't have to be gay to form a Civil Partnership, and I have straight friends who are thinking of using CP to avoid death duties!

It would be an irreversible step, but it might be worth putting the property in joint names now as [STRIKE]tenants in common[/STRIKE] (correction...) joint tenants? That would mean your friend would automatically become sole owner on your demise. It would also lessen the administrative burden on them when you die.

atush

But if you fell out before death, you could lose half.

TBagpuss

Nick_C wrote: »

A Civil Partnership, or same sex marriage, would protect the person you are leaving your assets to. Incidentally, you don't have to be gay to form a Civil Partnership, and I have straight friends who are thinking of using CP to avoid death duties!

It would be an irreversible step, but it might be worth putting the property in joint names now as tenants in common? That would mean your friend would automatically become sole owner on your demise. It would also lessen the administrative burden on them when you die.

No it wouldn't. If you want the property to go automatically to the other person, you have to own as joint tenants, not tenants in common.

You do need a will, and to be honest, skimping on it now is a false economy. Would you baulk at spending £150 to get proper advice about £250,000 worth of assets in any other circumstances?
While what you want is, on the face of it, fairly simple, it is always sensible to get proper advice, particularly for a will, where you won't be around to answer questions if it tuns out that anything is unclear when the time comes to pout it into effect.

Nick_C

TBagpuss wrote: »

No it wouldn't. If you want the property to go automatically to the other person, you have to own as joint tenants, not tenants in common.

Thanks, that's what I meant! (My brain is thinking one thing and my fingers are doing something completely different!)